Dear Herb:
I am a recent addition to a small but highly focused IT company in New York, and I fall somewhere between being the marketing and development departments. My job is to analyze areas of future interest for corporate IS managers and go about presenting these ideas to prospective customers.

I would like you to shed some light on areas of information technology that managers are willing to outsource. We have exceptional expertise in almost all major IT fields including networking and Internet technologies, customized software development, client server, year 2000, large-scale databases, data warehousing, business process optimization and operations research, you name it.

Can you can give me rough hints about the following two questions?

1. What are they willing to buy?
2. Who are they?

Regards,

Ahmed B.

Dear Ahmed:
IT man agers are similar to managers in other disciplines. They are willing to buy anything (or outsource it) that will make their lives easier. They include in the category of making life easier items or services that are covered under the following classifications:

1) those that keep their bosses off of their backs,
2) those that allow them to do less work and get home to their families at a reasonable hour,
3) those that help their companies become more successful.

The order of priority of the above criteria for an IT manager depends on the level of stress that the said manager experiences. The sequence listed above is for the high-stress situation. If there is anyone out there with a low-stress IT job, that person will tend to make decisions, especially on outsourcing, in the opposite progression, in other words starting from the bottom of the list (Hint to bosses: the less stress you lay on the IT dude, the more likely it is that he or she will make decisions based on helping your comp any win).

The next major rule to understand is that about the only thing a company, or the company's IT manager, will not outsource is an area where there is a concern that a failure will crater the business - or, more important - is a special pet of someone in power. Don't forget this unwritten policy.

Your question about who are the buyers is an interesting one. There is a great deal of fragmentation in the buying process. In the past, it was a much more straightforward situation. You sold to the IS manager or to his/her boss, who was usually the CFO. Today, with a relatively high level of interest in the benefits of technology as well as the familiarity with computers generated by PCs and the Internet, many more people are involved in technology decisions, including your own specialty of outsourcing. These people range from the CIO to a business unit manager with all stops in between. So you have to know the environment of your prospective client to understand how to approach the selling opp ortunity. I cover some of these issues in " The Politics of Outsourcing ," " To Outsource - Or Not ," and " No Outsourcing For Now ."

Today there seems to be no vendors and thus no salespersons. Nobody really sells anything anym ore, and certainly nobody sells "real stuff." Instead, there are "account executives" for "solution providers" who not only want to "partner" with you but will also help set up "business partnerships" with other "solution providers" so you have a "team" that can provide a "total solution". Although living in their niches, each "solution provider" seems to be also the largest provider of some "solution" or other.

When one of these guys (persons) calls they get about 10 seconds (just long enough to tell me they are the largest provider of 'widget' solutions) before I ask them what they are selling. Believe it or not, some of them don't even know how to answer that.

A final note: Of the "solutions" I've had to implement - because I couldn't just buy a system - I've found that most of them aren't!

Pat

Dear Pat:
I could not agree with you more. It is kind of funny asking someone what they are marketing (asking the m what they are selling can hurt their feelings and make them feel non-professional) and getting the reply, "Solutions for your business problems."

Given your perspective on the situation, it occurs to me that you might enjoy " Everybody Wants To Partner ", which relates some of my own experiences in having to deal with this phenomena.

I just wonder, though, about the title of Account Executive as opposed to using the old-fashioned term of Salesperson. Do you think putting Account Executive as your occupation on your income tax form increases or decreases your chance of being audited?

1. Becoming a Microsoft Certified Trainer and teaching.
2. Continuing as an IS/IT manager. Or,
3. Pursue a position with a consulting firm.

Which of these careers provides the best growth path, best hiring incentives, and best overall longevity?

Any help you can provide is appreciated.

Brian

Dear Brian:
The market today for computer talent has never been better. A booming economy, a general understanding in the business community that IT is important to keeping a company competitive, and a constant shortage of qualified talent bodes well for trained technical people. Given that situation, it would be difficult for you to make a poor choice.

I suspect, how ever, that you are planning ahead to the days when everything might not be so bright and sunny on the job horizon. The three choices that you identify are different in terms of long-term implications.

The training position will depend most directly on the growth of the industry. After all, not very many trainers are needed when there is not much of a need for new talent. Further, it is not likely that the salary levels that one can reach as a trainer are as great as your other two options.

The second choice, an IS/IT management position, offers a great deal of flexibility. You can pick up new skills and shift your technical career emphasis based on what is most appealing in the technology. If you get with the right company, you may even be able to move into some of the business areas, if you so decide.

The third alternative, consulting, almost always is the most lucrative from a financial standpoint. The down side is that it can be a demanding job with less security than that of the IS/IT ma nagement track.

All in all, however, I would urge you to make your decision following a very different criterion: consider carefully what you would enjoy doing the most and go for that option. People tend to be most successful when they can truly say that they have fun at work and would not want to do anything else for a living.

My question to you is this. I have worked my way up in the company (not sure I can name it here) to the point where I do some pretty hefty work as the products manager and, like everyone else, I'm underpaid. So, I sit in my cheap car with my cheap shoes and my cheap cup of coffee reading InformationWeek and CIO magazines' articles on the horrible dearth of IT people in the f ield, and how HR managers and CIOs are grasping at every straw available to them.

Why is it that I can't get a job anywhere in the industry while magazines of the same industry bemoan an epidemic lack of good people? How can an industry that claims to be so understaffed afford to brush off my applications and resumes, while happily keeping the position open on the HR Web site?

David

Dear David:
The shortage of IT talent ( IT People Aren't Plumbers , April 13, 1998) is real.

I don't know why you cannot get a job in the industry, but perhaps I can give you some suggestions as to how you might find out the answer to that question:

If you have been getting interviews and then get those disgustingly polite rejection letters, pick up the telephone and call each of the people who interviewed you and ask them if they could candidly give you some pointers as to what you could do to make you rself more marketable to the next company. You might find that some of them will not want to tell you, or even return your call, but if you can connect with even one or two, you may learn something valuable.

In addition, talk to your friends and family and ask for an assessment of traits that you may have or skills (technical or otherwise) that may be hindering you from career growth. It is possible that you may not like everything you hear, but listen and make sure you do not argue with their assessment. Remember, they are doing you a favor by being open with you.

Finally, if you are not getting interviews at all, if you are just sending in resumes to Web sites, then start putting a lot more effort in your employment campaign. Polish your resume stressing accomplishments in terms of results achieved, hit the Sunday newspaper ads, make cold calls to the companies in town. Getting a new job is hard work, but hopefully the results will be worth the effort.

Good luck and let me know what your ne w position is when you succeed, as you undoubtedly will.